Changes
by FeJazz
Summary: Starting after OotP, Harry finds himself sitting in his room on Privet Drive lost in his remorse. What would happen if Harry made a different decision about how he was going to spend the summer, how would it change everything else if Harry decided he needed some more time on his own to come to term with everything that has happened to him? Slight AU, No Pairings as of yet.
1. Chapter 1

Hey Guys, FeJazz here. I wanted to try writing a Harry Potter fanfic, and this is what I've come up with. If you're new to my writing I hope you like it, if you're a fan of my other story I'm happy to see you apparently like my writing enough to give my new story a shot. Also to everyone who may be reading this that likes my other story, don't worry I'm still working on it, the idea for this one just came to me and I felt the need to get it down.

I would also like to take this time to state that I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter franshise, Rowling has that honour, and I give credit where credit is due.

Now without any further ado, I present to you Chapter 1.

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><p><strong>Chapter 01 – A Different Destination<strong>

Harry sat in his dark room staring out the window down Privet Drive. Apparently his headmaster needed his assistance with something tonight and was planning to bring him to the Burrow afterwards. When Harry first received the letter from Dumbledore he was relieved, sadly though the relief was only momentary and he soon found himself feeling rather conflicted. He didn't know if he wanted to be at the Burrow right now. As good as the Weasleys were to him he couldn't help but resent the fact that Dumbledore was once again shipping him off somewhere for safekeeping without his consent.

He remembered back to when he had exploded at the man at the end of the last term, after the events in the Department of Mysteries. He had shouted at Dumbledore, thrown the ancient and powerful wizard's office into chaos and broken who knows how many of his possessions. He didn't feel guilty about it really; he was more embarrassed that he had let Dumbledore see him lose control like that.

Harry's heart wrenched when he thought of his Godfather again, Sirius was dead and would never be taking Harry in. He would never have a home with his father's best friend, and it was entirely his fault. If only the headmaster had told him about the prophecy earlier, or the fact that Voldemort might use the connection between them against him he might not have fallen for the damned murderer's trick. But no, Dumbledore played his cards close to the vest and he never told Harry anything until after it would have done him some good.

Now he was alone again. Sitting in his dark room staring down Privet Drive waiting for his Headmaster to arrive.

Suddenly the light on the corner went out, and Harry knew it had to be Dumbledore. Sitting up he made his way downstairs, it wouldn't do for his uncle to answer the door to Dumbledore, it might be funny to see how his uncle would react, but he didn't need the trouble. He slightly regretted not bothering to pack, he had been somewhat skeptical as to whether or not the elderly wizard would actually appear, but there was nothing for it now.

Opening the door he found himself once again face to face with Albus Dumbledore, he had heard his uncle yell at him when he made his way to the door but he hadn't really paid much attention. "Aah Harry it is good to see you this evening."

Harry was about to respond when he heard his uncle yell at him again and step into the hallway, "What the blazes are you doing now boy-" The whale of a man that was Vernon Dursley seemed to choke at the sight of Dumbledore in the doorway. His uncle had seemingly been struck dumb by the sight of the man who was so blatantly wizardish.

Seeing the look of shock on the elder Dursley's face Dumbledore looked back down at Harry, "I take it from your uncle's shock you did not inform them I would be stopping by this evening."

"No sir." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes seemed to dim slightly at the short response from the younger wizard but he nodded curtly at him.

"I see, well nonetheless I would suggest we continue this conversation indoors." Harry nodded and led his Headmaster around the visibly squirming Vernon Dursley into the living room where his cousin was still watching something. Harry had to supress a laugh at his cousin's reaction to his Headmaster; he had been opening his mouth to say something to Harry when his eyes caught sight of the man in the long robes. Dudley had let out a loud squeak and bolted from the room into the kitchen.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly at the sight before directing a somewhat pointed stare at Harry, "While I believe you found that amusing Harry, I must ask that you gather your relatives, what I have to say they also will have to hear." Once again Harry nodded and left the room to fetch back his cousin and aunt, apparently though that wasn't necessary seeing as his aunt had poked her hear into the room and his uncle had finally pulled himself together and stomped in from the hall. "Ah, you are both here, please sit we have much to discuss." Harry saw the look of panic make its way across his aunt's face, and the look of anger across his uncles. Not really wanting to be in the same room as his relatives at the moment Harry turned to the Headmaster.

"Um, I'll be back in a minute Professor Dumbledore, you can get started I just want to put on a pot of tea." Green eyes met twinkling blue ones and his professor slowly nodded to him. Retreating into the kitchen Harry brushed past his cousin who was now somewhat fearfully following his mother back to the living room.

Harry took his time with making the tea, he had heard his uncle raise his voice a few times, but obviously Dumbledore had no issue dealing with the mass that was Vernon Dursley. After the tea had brewed to his satisfaction, Harry put the small pot of tea on a tray with a few mugs and brought it out into the room, where his relatives were now sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

Dumbledore looked up and smiled at Harry as he stepped back into the room and offered him tea. After everyone was settled back down Dumbledore spoke again, "I was just informing your relatives of the dangers our world is currently facing, some of the fun you have gotten up to, as well as your would be coming of age next year." Harry nodded taking a small sip of his tea; he had never discussed anything that happened at Hogwarts with his family, not that they would have stood to hear about it anyways. Harry however took a small bit of satisfaction seeing the somewhat scandalized and worried looks on his relative's faces.

"I'm sorry to inform you though that one of the other reasons I am hear is to inform you that the will of Sirius Black has just been released." At this Harry notably paled again, he found his hand was shaking and he slowly lowered the teacup back to its saucer on the table clenching his other fist tightly.

"Oh…"

Dumbledore seeing how Harry wasn't about to comment on it decided to continue on, "It is rather simple as he left you everything he owned. A rather impressively large sum of gold was added to your vault in Gringotts, and you inherit all of Sirius's personal possessions. The only slightly complicated part is-"

"His godfather's dead?" Dumbledore looked somewhat pointedly at Vernon's rather harsh sounding interruption. He cast a quick glance at Harry not really questioning why he hadn't informed his relatives, placing Harry with them had been another of his great blunders.

"Yes, he is." Turning back to Harry he continued, "The complication is that he also left you number twelve Grimmauld Place." Harry looked up in surprise; he saw the greedy look in his uncle's eyes and glared at the man. He wanted to shout out immediately that he didn't even want the house, but remembering back to the first time his godfather had offered to take him in he knew that even with his Godfather's dislike for the place he had wanted to make it a home for him. He nearly got teary eyed at the thought; it was another thing that could never happen. He remembered the sight of his godfather pacing those halls gloomily and couldn't help but envision how different life could have been. If only things had been a little different.

Slowly collecting his thoughts Harry realized something else. This could be his escape from what had been bothering him. As much as he had been upset about returning to the Dursley's he had appreciated the solitude, no one here would panic over his nightmares, and no one here bothered him. He was left alone here, and for once Harry felt that that was what he needed right now. He needed some time to himself. He needed time to grieve. This gave him a chance to honour his godfather's memory, he could try and live the life Sirius had wanted for them there. "What is complicated about it then?"

Harry sat there feeling his hopes crushed as Dumbledore spoke of possible steps the Black family might have taken to ensure that the house wouldn't leave the family. He felt anger building up at the thought of Bellatrix striding through the halls of the house. Dumbledore obviously noted the upset in Harry's eyes because he soon mentioned a simple test to determine if Sirius had indeed passed ownership of the property to Harry as he had intended.

"What is it professor?"

"Well if Sirius left you the house then he also left you Kreacher." As Dumbledore spoke the house elf's name he flicked his wand. There was a loud cracking sound and the snout nosed, bat eared, bloodshot eyed house elf appeared. Harry felt a certain amount of revulsion at the sight of the elf. Kreacher had betrayed both him and Sirius, making him inadvertently responsible for Sirius's death. He sat there staring at the elf which was stomping it's feet glaring at him with hatred and yelling about how he wouldn't serve Harry. He wanted to say that he didn't want anything to do with Kreacher, but once again something stopped him.

"Kreacher shut it." Harry watched as the elf started grasping at its own throat while mouthing what he imagined was every bit of vile language it knew at him. He knew he couldn't let Kreacher go to Bellatrix, the elf had spent a year around the meetings for the Order of the Phoenix and there was no telling how much he may have known.

"Ah, well that makes it simple. Sirius must have known what he was doing leaving you the property. The next issue is the Hippogriff Buckbeak; since Sirius died he has been in Hagrid's care. If you would like to make different arrangements you are welcome to do so tough." Harry didn't really need to think that over, as cool as it would be to have a Hippogriff in the house, it was probably best for Buckbeak to be back at Hogwarts, where it had lots of space.

"Buckbeak should stay with Hagrid; I think he'll be happier there."

"Excellent, I'll let Hagrid know. He was very excited to see Buckbeak again, though I should inform you that due to his status we saw fit to rechristen him as Witherwings. I doubt the Ministry would ever make the connection but it is better to ere on the side of caution. Now Harry is your trunk packed?"

Harry felt his cheeks colour slightly but fought it back down before looking at his headmaster, "Sorry professor, I actually haven't yet."

"Doubtful I would turn up?"

"Not really sir… I just had a lot on my mind…" Dumbledore looked Harry once over again; something had changed about the boy. Sighing to himself Dumbledore just hoped that the boy's friends would be able to help him through his slump. He was a firm believer in the healing power of love, and if he knew the Weasleys they would probably smother the boy with it. That was what Harry probably needed right now.

"I see, no matter Harry I shall assist you as soon as we have concluded our business here." Harry nodded appreciatively to Dumbledore and saw the man stare harshly at his relatives. Harry watched as the Headmaster proceeded to tell his a brief bit of information about Voldemort, as well as lecture them on their failure to treat Harry as one of their own. At this part Harry was actually somewhat thankful his aunt and uncle hadn't treated Harry like their son, though when he was younger he would have given anything for their love, after almost 15 years of their neglect he didn't allow himself to hurt over it. At the end of his speech Harry grew somewhat grim hearing he would have to return to his aunt and uncles once again, but he found solace in the fact that it would be the last time. Then he never had to see them again if he so chose, or more accurately if he lived long enough to need to make the choice.

After what seemed like an eternity Dumbledore slowly stood, "Well Harry, we should be off as soon as possible. So lead the way so that I can assist you in gathering your belongings." Once again Harry nodded to his headmaster and made his way out of the room until he heard his uncle call again in a strangled voice.

"What the bloody hell are we supposed to do with this thing?" Looking back in surprise Harry tried and failed to supress a grin at the sight of Kreacher stamping his feet around the Dursley's sitting room.

"Kreacher you can go back to Grimmauld Place." There was once again a loud crack and his smirk grew as he saw his uncle and cousin squeak at the sound before he turned back to his headmaster. He was worried for a moment seeing the look on his headmaster's face before it turned to one of amusement.

Sighing in relief Harry led his headmaster up the staircase to his bedroom. He grimaced slightly taking in the sight of the room, after all it hadn't been cleaned recently, and he figured it would take him a few minutes to dig everything he needed to his chest and out from the loose floorboard. Thankfully though Dumbledore drew his wand and with a wide sweep the room seemed to be put to place. "As I said Harry, it is best if we move quickly. I trust you do not object to my assistance?"

"Its fine professor thanks." Harry saw the brief look of sadness flash across the headmaster's face when his hidden possessions flew up from their hiding place beneath the floorboard and landed in the chest. All in all it took under a minute and the meager room was once again seemingly uninhabited. Harry's Firebolt had also made its way into trunk after another wave from Dumbledore's wand caused it to shrink. Satisfied with his work Dumbledore watched as Harry spoke quietly with his owl before sending it off, the cage then had its contents vanished as was also shrunk and placed in the trunk.

"Thanks again professor."

"Think nothing of it Harry."

The pair made their way back down the stairs and out the door. The two wizards walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached the end of Privet Drive. "Now Harry, I think it would be best if I send your trunk on to the Burrow, it will be far easier than carrying it along with us."

Harry knew that he had to talk to his professor now or he'd be forced to stay at the Burrow all summer despite his wishes, "Professor wait…" At this Dumbledore looked at Harry with confusion, "Professor I don't… I don't want to go to the Burrow." Harry felt as though he had betrayed his best friend's family by admitting it, but he really wasn't ready to be surrounded by people yet. He still needed to work things out on his own.

Dumbledore however was bewildered at this, "What do you mean Harry?"

Dumbledore watched Harry shift uncomfortably before facing him again, "I don't want to go to the Burrow this summer. I would prefer to go to Grimmauld Place."

Once again Dumbledore did not quite understand this but he really didn't see it as too much of an inconvenience, "I suppose I can speak to Molly and Arthur about relocating to Grimmauld Pla-" This time Dumbledore was cut off by Harry.

"Sir you're misunderstanding me. I just… I want… I need to be alone for a while." Dumbledore stared at the young man before him with worry. He had planned for Harry to spend his summer with the Weasleys so that they could help distract the boy from his own sorrow, apparently though Harry didn't want that.

"May I ask why this is Harry?"

The young Mr. Potter looked at the ground for a moment before meeting eyes with Dumbledore. "I'm not ready to be smothered. As much as I like staying with Ron and his family they can get overwhelming. I think right now I need some time to myself to come to terms with… everything…" Harry watched his headmaster's reaction to his statement and found a look of surprise in Dumbledore's eyes.

"And if I told you I felt it best you go to the Burrow?"

"In fairness professor you thought it was best I be left with the Dursleys. I think we all know how that turned out." Harry hadn't meant to come of harsh, but the look that passed over the headmaster's face made him feel guilty nonetheless.

"And if I insisted?"

At this Harry paused, what could he really do if Dumbledore didn't allow him to be on his own. "I could just order Kreacher to bring me there. But it would make it hard for me to trust you sir." Dumbledore looked saddened by this. He had hoped that Harry would seek comfort from his friends; though apparently that was not the way it was going to be this time. Albus sighed, he couldn't afford to lose Harry's trust and however the boy was acting, and he knew he had not yet been forgiven for letting the situation get out of hand at the end of the last year. There was so much he had to teach Harry this year, so if it meant he had to give in to one of Harry's requests then so be it.

"Very well Harry, you may stay at number twelve Grimmauld Place, I take it you would also not take to kindly to my assigning a member of the Order to watch over you?" Dumbledore knew it wasn't likely, but he felt as though he had to ask.

"I need some time to myself professor… I don't think having someone from the order sitting around watching me would help much. Besides, they have more important stuff to do than watching me sulk." Harry's attempt at self-deprecating humor didn't seem to work as Dumbledore solemnly nodded.

"I understand Harry, I will allow it if you feel this strongly about it."

"I do sir."

Dumbledore then gestured to Harry's trunk with his wand, "It would be best if we were not encumbered by these just now. I shall send them to Grimmauld Place to await us there. However, I would like you to bring your Invisibility Cloak… just in case." Nodding at this Harry opened his trunk and retrieved the cloak in question. With a flick of his wand Harry's trunk vanished, "Now Harry wand out, it is time for us to pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."

Several hours later Harry and Dumbledore had exited Horace Slughorn's house. They walked down the road again with Dumbledore informing his of professor Slughorn's habit of collecting students. Harry wasn't quite sure how he felt about the new professor but he couldn't get the image of the giant spider tying people up in webs out of his mind. Dumbledore offered his arm again and Harry once again felt the unpleasant feeling of being squeezed through a garden tube that he now associated with apparation.

Shaking his head he found himself standing once more before the door of number twelve Grimmauld Place. "There are a few more things I would like to discuss with you if you'd permit it Harry?"

Hearing this Harry nodded as he made his way towards the door. He hesitated slightly the image of Sirius stalking the halls of the house miserably appearing in his mind before he shook his head to clear the image. He wouldn't allow himself to remember Sirius like that; he wanted to remember the man who had offered him a home, the man who had lived in a cave for a year just to be closer to him when he was in danger. Gripping the door handle Harry pushed open the door and stepped into the dark hallway. Dumbledore followed behind him, once again flicking his wand causing the lamps along the hall to light up.

The pair made their way past the sleeping portrait of Walburga Black and up the stairs to the first floor. Making their way to the room where the Black family tapestry adorned the wall the pair sat down on the couches in the room. "Now Harry, first I would like to say that I am proud with how you have handled everything since the incident at the ministry, if you would permit me I believe Sirius would be proud of you."

Harry once again felt like someone had grabbed onto his insides and slowly calmed himself with several breaths. "I know he probably wouldn't have wanted me to shut myself out, but he would have understood that I wanted to be alone for a while to deal with everything… he… he always understood…" Harry really did not wish to discuss Sirius right now though, especially after his uncle so casually refer to his death, and professor Slughorn tossing his name around as if it didn't mean anything.

"Yes, Sirius wanted what was best for you, and if that is some time alone to come to terms with what has happened he would have understood. I only implore you not to allow yourself to push everyone who cares for you away Harry, I know at the very least he would not have wanted that." Hearing this Harry nodded glumly. He didn't meet the Headmaster's eyes; he instead had decided to focus on a spider that was making its way up the side of the couch.

"It's just hard… knowing he won't ever write to me again…" Harry felt stupid for admitting it, as he resolutely stared at the spider that had just now begun to make its way up the Headmaster's beard.

"It is cruel that what should have been a long and happy relationship was cut so short. In a better world you would have had a happy life with Sirius." Harry only nodded somewhat glumly at this. Afterwards he heard a somewhat familiar shuffling accompanied by the voice of Kreacher mumbling about blood traitors and mudbloods.

At this Dumbledore turned to look at Harry, "Perhaps it would be best for Kreacher to go somewhere he can be… supervised?" Hearing this Harry turned looking confused at Dumbledore.

"What do you mean sir?"

"Perhaps it would be good for Kreacher to go to Hogwarts, that way the other elves could keep an eye on him. That is of course only if you would like that." Harry thought for a moment about that, but rather quickly reached his decision.

"Kreacher", the aforementioned elf appeared in the room. "I'd like you to go to work at Hogwarts for a while." The elf only glared at Harry before disappearing with another crack.

Looking back up at Dumbledore he saw the man was smiling mischievously once more, "Excellent, I believe that will be best for the both of you, though that does leave you in an unfortunate position."

"How so sir?" Harry wasn't too sure if he was going to like where Dumbledore was going to go with this new route.

"Well Hogwarts cannot simply deprive you of your elf. I feel it would be best if you had one here to help around the house." Harry looked at his Headmasters madly twinkling eyes and just sighed, "Dobby." With another crack the house elf appeared in the room before them.

The elf looked around the room for a second before seeing Harry and squeaking in delight, "Master Harry Potter Sir, is you be needing anything sir?" Harry wasn't too sure what to say, thankfully however Dumbledore decided to chuckle and speak up.

"Dobby, it seems as if young Harry here is in need of an elf, knowing how fond of him you are I wondered if you would be inter-" He never finished the sentence seeing as Dobby began bouncing up and down squealing with delight.

"Dobby would love to be Mister Harry Potters's elf!" The elf was looking up excitedly at Harry who once again could only sigh at his headmasters antics; of course the man wouldn't let it go that easily. He still would technically have someone taking care of him. Seeing the joy on Dobby's face though he couldn't bring himself to turn the happy elf down.

"I'd like that Dobby. Umm, how much would you like to be paid?" Harry had never really bothered to figure out exactly how much money he had, but he was sure he could pay Dobby whatever the little elf asked for.

Apparently though Dobby looked both joyful and shocked, "Master Harry Potter woulds be willing to pay Dobby?! Dobby can't be taking Harry Potter Sirs moneys, he won't!" Harry looked somewhat confused at this.

"I thought you liked getting paid Dobby?"

"Dobby does, but he doesn't want Harry Potter Sir to be payin him, Dobby has enough money now." The elf said this rather resolutely, so Harry just shrugged slightly at this.

"Well if you're sure Dobby, is there anything else you'd want though if you don't want to be paid?" The elf looked at Harry for a moment before looking at his feet.

It seemed to take the elf a long time to work up the nerve to ask Harry the question, "Would Master Harry Potter Sir be willing to take in Winky too? Dobby knows she's not too happy at Hogwarts?" Dobby looked a combination of hopeful and shameful for having asked Harry for something. Harry on the other hand was sighing mentally. He had hoped to be in solitude, and then Dumbledore had tricked him into having Dobby as an elf, not that he really minded that, but now Dobby wanted another elf there as well. It wouldn't be the same as at the Weasley's, but Harry was sure he was going to end up being fussed over. Unfortunately for him though seeing the somewhat hopeful look on Dobby's face was all the convincing he really needed.

"If she'd like to come she's more than welcome." Dobby squealed again and hugged Harry, which was somewhat awkward seeing as Harry was still sitting down.

"Thank you Harry Potter Sir, Dobby is going to tell her the news sir!" With another crack Dobby was gone and Harry turned to the bemused Headmaster.

"Somehow I feel like you planned all that…" The man's eyes just twinkled back at him.

"Oh I might have had some notion about it, but as you can see Dobby is rather excited at the idea of serving you." Harry just stared at his headmaster before shaking his head and letting out a low chuckle. "Now that all that business is taken care of I feel it would be best for me to tell you that I plan on your having some private lessons with me this year."

At this Harry's eyes shot up to meet the headmasters gaze. "Really sir, what'll you be teaching me?"

"Oh a little of this and a little of that." Harry glared, though without any real anger at the Headmaster's illusive answer.

"Does that mean I'm not going to have to continue my Occlumency with Snape?"

"_Professor _Snape Harry, and no you will not." At this Harry grinned.

"Thank god, cause those were-"

"I believe the term _fiasco_ would be an accurate description."

"Yeah, but I guess that means I won't be seeing a lot of Professor Snape this year, after all I don't think I got an O on my potions O.W.L." At this Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkly mischievously again.

"Oh, I wouldn't presume anything just yet…" Harry stared hard at the man, the way he had said it was implying something that Harry was almost positive he wouldn't like.

"Professor… what exactly did you say Professor Slughorn was teaching?" It was the only thing he could figure would somehow lead to him having class with Snape again, if there hadn't been any other applicants Snape might have finally got the teaching position he had always longed for. Sadly as if to confirm all of Harry's fears the mysterious twinkly in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed and his smile dropped a small amount.

"Ah, so you've figured me out Harry, bravo. Professor Slughorn will be retaking his position as Potions Master." With this confirmed Harry's head dropped, it meant that unless Snape had finally gotten ousted from the school his least favourite teacher would now be instructing his best subject… It was going to be another long year…

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><p>Bam, done. Well what did you guys think? I know that it follows the book a bit, but it is only the first chapter, so I hope you all understand that. I'm as of yet unsure if I'm going to do any pairings in this story, I haven't really decided anything about that yet. I have a few ideas but nothing is set in stone. But anyhow, I don't need to keep rambling on, I hope you enjoyed it and please leave me a review to let me know what you thought.<p>

~FeJazz


	2. Chapter 2 - Not Quite Alone

Hey Everyone, I'm back from my accidental hiatus and I have a chapter here for you. I wanted to that those of you who decided to give this story a chance, and I hope you all enjoy it. This chapter is around the length I'll assume the chapters for this story are going to be. They are a bit shorter than the chapters of my Naruto story, but I'm still trying to figure this story out.

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think.

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><p>Chapter 02 – Not Quite Alone<p>

Harry woke up with a start, hearing the cries of Mrs. Black's portrait below him. Looking around in confusion the black haired teen slowly began to piece together the memories of the night before. He had been picked up by Dumbledore from his aunt and uncle's house and after somehow managing to convince Professor Slughorn to come out of retirement had been delivered here, to the home his godfather had hated.

Feeling guilt and sorrow begin to build up Harry quickly supressed the feelings that were constantly attempting to overwhelm him. Sitting up Harry found himself staring at the Black family tree. He hated that thing, it didn't really make sense to hold any animosity for the wall hanging, but once again seeing the burn mark where Sirius' name should have been darkened his mood again. Turning away from the tapestry he focused on looking around the room, it was exactly as it had been the night before, what with the moldy old couch he had slept on, the lumpy chair, and the rickety side table.

Harry sighed as he stood, he didn't want to be in that room anymore, there weren't too many memories associated with it, but the most prominent ones involved Sirius and he didn't want to face them just yet. Harry stretched before heading to the door of the room when he suddenly caught the scent of something very appetizing. Feeling slightly confused, and rather cautious Harry quietly crept down the length of the halls and then down the stairs to the kitchen. The smell was much stronger here, after Harry's experiences in the house he had trouble believing anything had ever smelt so appetizing in the house.

Poking his head through the doorway Harry immediately noticed something was off. It took Harry a few moments of confusion before he realized what was off. The room was clean, not like when Molly Weasley had gotten them all to try and scrub the decades of gunk from the room, the room looked like it had been taken from a different house. The ancient stains that Harry had always assumed were blood were gone from the stone floor. It almost looked like the floor had been reset overnight. All the stones that were sticking up were now level with the rest of the floor. The cabinets had been cleaned and polished, the table looked like it had been sanded down and refinished, and all along the walls the pots had been cleaned to the point that they shined with a coppery glow.

It was his moment of admiration that Harry's eyes finally snapped to where the smell was coming from. Before the stove stood a small elf that Harry instantly recognized. Harry wanted to smack his head for forgetting that Dobby had asked him if he would hire Winky as well, but there was nothing for it now, and the food did smell delicious. He just hoped Hermione wouldn't cause too much of a fuss when she found out that he had overnight ended up owning three house elves.

Winky quickly turned to Harry, "Harry Potter Sir will be having his breakfast now, Master needs the food, he's seeming too skinny." Harry gawked for a moment before supressing his desire to laugh, he should have known to expect this, everyone said he was too skinny, and now with Dobby and Winky in the house Harry doubted he'd be allowed to even consider skipping a meal.

"Alright, what's for breakfast?"

"Lot's sir, Harry Potter Sir hasn't been getting enough to eat, so Winky will be doing her best to make sure he'll be eating all he needs from now on sir." Harry shook his head and sighed, as Winky began bringing several large plates to the table. There were eggs, potatoes, scones, jam's, sausages, fruits, cheeses, Harry didn't know exactly how the elf had acquired so much food so quickly, but he suspected Dumbledore must have had something to do with it. Harry began piling food onto his plate when Winky placed a large goblet at his side that smelled faintly of citric fruits, but seemed to be an odd thick yellow substance that was still bubbling.

"Master Harry's nutrient potion sir. He wasn't been eating enough, so the potions will make up for it sirs." Harry was tempted to argue that he didn't need any potions, but seeing the stern look in the elf's eye stopped him. Sighing Harry cautiously brought the goblet to his lips and took a wary sip of the concoction. Thankfully it tasted far better than any other potion Harry had been forget to drink, he doubted he'd ever forget the taste of Skelegrow, but this wasn't bad, and the smell helped his get beyond the oddly thick nature of the beverage.

Harry ate as much as he could manage all under the watchful eye of Winky. He took the opportunity to try and get to know the elf that he now owned. As he suspected she was vehemently opposed to the notion of getting paid, and claimed to be happy to be able to serve a family again as opposed to working at Hogwarts. Apparently the elf wanted nothing else than to be able to serve him and his family (when and if he had one) loyally. After forcing one final plate of food down his stomach and finishing the nutrient potion Harry finally left the kitchen to find wherever Dobby was.

It didn't take long for Harry to locate the other elf, seeing as said elf began having a large argument with a rather foul mouthed portrait. Harry sighed as he appeared in the long entry way of the house and saw Dobby snap his fingers causing the curtains moldy and moth eaten hangings to snap shut again. The entry hall itself had also seemed to undergo so heavy cleaning, obviously not as much as the kitchen yet, but Harry was rather shocked at how much the two elves had managed to do while he had been asleep. The formerly dark and eerie entry hall was now full of light, with the lamps burning brightly, and the floor seemed to have been in the process of being scrubbed when the elf had ended up arguing with the painting.

After leading Dobby away from the portrait and into the still horrid formal dining room the elf began to speak, "Master Harry Potter Sir, Dobby isn't meaning anything by it, but why does sir have the mean portrait in his home, does Harry Potter Sir like the painting?" Harry could tell that Dobby was obviously worried it had upset him, so he made a point of putting the elf at ease.

"I'm sorry about Mrs. Black Dobby, we actually tried to get her portrait down when we tried cleaning this place up a bit last year but she's stuck on the wall with a permanent sticking charm."

The house elf's eyes widened at this and nodded his head, "Then would Harry Potter sir like Dobby to get rid of the mean and awful painting?"

"You can do that Dobby?"

"Of course Dobby can sir, if Harry Potter wants Dobby to, Dobby could burn the portrait as well." Harry let out a short laugh at that, obviously Dobby had developed an intense dislike for the portrait over the past 10 hours. He was very tempted to burn it when he thought about his other elf. Harry let out a low sigh and shook his head.

"Thanks Dobby but no, could you just remove it and silence it, we can find someplace to put it. I have a feeling that if you're cleaning the house you'll find a lot of rather unpleasant stuff… The majority of family that lived here, well… let's just say that they were closely related to the Malfoy's." At this the elf nodded his head in understanding.

"Then Dobby will do just that, Dobby wanted to clean the room Harry Potter Sir was sleeping in first, but Winky told Dobby no, she said that Dobby would disturb Master with the cleaning and that she needed a place to do the cookings first. Harry Potter Sir isn't mad with Dobby is he?"

"No Dobby, Winky was right, I needed some sleep, just keep doing what you're doing. I'm still not really sure where I'll be sleeping, and this place has a lot of bedrooms, it feels kind of empty as it is. So don't worry about it, once the place is cleaned up I'll probably need to get new paints and stuff, the whole house feels a bit too… Slytherin for me." Dobby nodded at this before running off to continue working. Standing there felt odd for Harry, even with the empty house (not including the elves) he felt somewhat trapped. Back at his relatives house he had been able to wander the familiar neighborhood if he felt closed in, but here he didn't really know what was around him. Sure he'd been to London quite a few times before, but he'd really only ever seen Diagon Alley and a bit of the Underground on his way to the Ministry for his trial last year.

Eventually Harry decided to make his way back upstairs and explore the house. Leaving the ground floor, and passing the first floor, Harry arrived on the second floor landing and started checking doors. There was the room that Hermione and Ginny had shared, as well as a small washroom. There was only one other door on the floor and Harry remembered no one being able to get into it. Shrugging it off Harry continued up to the third floor, he knew the room he had shared with Ron was here. Bypassing that room Harry made his way to the Master Bedroom. He knew that Sirius had kept Buckbeak there while the Order was using Grimmauld Place as a base of operations, so he was a little apprehensive as to what he might find the room to look like.

Not surprisingly the room was a dark green, and all the furniture was wood stained to be black. He couldn't help but laugh at the torn up mattress which was covered with a combination of the feathers that had made up the bed as well as Hippogriff feathers that were shed by the previous occupant. Looking the room over Harry noted the two large wardrobes as well as the large musty curtains. Wary of possible Doxy attacks Harry snatched up a broken side table leg and chucked it at the fabric preparing to run if the curtains were home to the vile little creatures. Thankfully though nothing came flying from the curtains so Harry cautiously approached before slowly pulling them open.

In his mind Harry had hoped for a dramatic bright light filling the room, sadly though the windows were covered in years of filth causing the little light that did flow in to cast murky shadows along the walls and floors. He should have known better than to hope any of the house would be free from the issues that plagued the rest but sadly his hopes were in vain. Harry made the effort to stand back up an armchair that had been knocked over before leaving the room and heading up to the top-most landing.

Arriving at the top of the staircase Harry came face to face with something that he was entirely unprepared for, a door which read _Sirius_. Backtracking as quickly as he could Harry found himself sitting back in the slightly mouldy grey armchair he had just stood back up. It was there that an annoyed looking owl found him. Harry looked up hearing Hedwig and saw the owl perched on the top of the door.

Noting that it had gotten it's master's attention Hedwig swooped down and landed on Harry's lap nipped one of his fingers, "Sorry girl, I should have put your cage out for you…" Looking around again Harry let out a sigh, the room was probably as good as any other in the house, and after everything was cleaned up it might be nice. After stroking Hedwig and humming to himself for a few minutes Harry called Dobby and asked the elf to bring him Hedwig's cage and his trunk. The elf in question was as usual absurdly happy with having been given a task and complied immediately. Feeling unsure of what to do Harry spent some time setting up Hedwig's cage on top of one of the dressers before giving in to his boredom and rummaging through his trunk to find one of his spell books to read.

It was there around noon when Dobby came barrelling into the room, "Mister Harry Potter Sir, Mister Harry Potter Sir, you's be having some letters!" The voice had jolted him from his absent minded stupor and left him gawking slightly at the elf bouncing up and down with a set of letters in its hands.

"Umm, thanks Dobby." Harry took the letters and examined them, the first was a large square envelope, it was made of a thick parchment and addressed to a _Mr. H. J. Potter_, and the other was just a roll of parchment with _Harry_ written on it in what he recognized as Ron's handwriting. Putting aside the thick official envelope for a moment he unrolled the parchment from Ron and began reading.

_Hey Mate, _

_Mum just told us you weren't coming here this summer. She seemed like she was gonna send you a Howler telling you off for being irresponsible or some rubbish, but I managed to talk her out of it. You might have made the right choice not coming here this summer mate, Mum's been on the warpath lately and with the twin's out of the house she has way more time to be telling me what to do. _

_Anyways Mione also told me to tell you that she thought you were being silly staying on your own cause we're your friends and we should help you out, but don't worry about that. Believe it or not I think I actually am the one who gets it. Sometimes a guy just needs to figure stuff out for himself. But yeah, we are all here if you need to talk though mate, so don't think you need to go off doing it all alone._

_Also you still are gonna have to come by some point this summer, it wouldn't be right otherwise, plus mum would go sparse, so as my best mate you've gotta come by at least once to save me from that._

_Ron_

_Bugger, sorry mate forgot to ask, what'd you and Dumbledore get up to, Mione and I want to hear?_

Finishing the letter Harry shook his head and chuckled lightly, it was going to be odd not spending the summer with Ron and Hermione, but at least they weren't holding it against him. Putting down the letter Harry reached for the other envelope and opened it, pulling out the sheet of parchment inside and unfolded it. As soon as his eyes caught the first line he felt like he choked on his own tongue.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)_

_Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)_

_Acceptable (A) Troll (T)_

_HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Astronomy: A _

_Care of Magical Creatures: E_

_Charms: E_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Divination: P_

_Herbology: E_

_History of Magic: D_

_Potions: E_

_Transfiguration: E_

Harry read the letter through several times, he couldn't believe that he had forgotten that his OWL results were arriving today, Dumbledore had mentioned it the night before, but it had slipped his mind. Looking over his results he smiled, he had done rather well in everything aside from Divination and History and he always knew he didn't have a chance in either subject anyways. He even achieved an Outstanding in DADA, which was something he could be proud of.

Or at least it was before he remembered that Snape would be teaching DADA this year, of course now his least favourite teacher would be teaching his best subject. The world was just so unfair. Shaking his head he looked over his results again, at least he should be able to take Potions. He decided he'd write a letter to Professor Slughorn to find out if an Exceeds Expectations was a good enough grade to qualify him for a Potions NEWT. He made a note to remember Dumbledore's warning of how Professor Slughorn would try and collect him, but he figured asking if he'd be able to take the class would be fine.

Standing up Harry walked back over to his trunk and rummaged through it until he found some spare parchment and went to writing his letters. It only took him a couple minutes to finish his letter to Ron and Hermione. He made sure to tell Ron to thank Mrs. Weasley for her concern but reassure her that he was fine. He also told them about his OWL results and mentioned his adventure to find Slughorn with Dumbledore. Feeling content with the letter he set it aside and started writing the other one to Professor Slughorn himself. He kept it relatively brief but made sure it still sounded respectful, who knows he might actually manage to have a decent year in Potions for once.

After he had finished with the letters Harry called Hedwig and sent her on her way. He knew Ron would be at The Burrow, so he sent her their first and then told her to take Slughorn's letter to Hogwarts. He figured that even if the man wasn't there yet Dumbledore would be able to direct Hedwig to where she could find the man. Feeling relatively content with the letters Harry began leafing through his books again.

-Several Days Later-

Harry woke with a start; he'd had the nightmare of Sirius falling through the Veil again. Shaking the images from his mind he slowly at up. Looking around the large still somewhat gloomy room Harry couldn't help but smile a little at how quickly Dobby had managed to clean the house. He wasn't nearly done yet (or so the elf insisted) but after Dobby had found Harry asleep in the old and moldy armchair of the Master Bedroom Dobby decided that his next priority should be to get the room cleaned up to be suitable for Harry. Harry nearly laughed at the memory of Dobby furiously casting cleaning charm after cleaning charm on the curtains before the elf finally gave up and just vanished them only to shriek louder at the horrible state of the windows.

There were actually several fully habitable areas in the house now. The Basement of course had been pretty much immaculate from that first morning at Winky's insistence, but in just under a week Dobby had cleaned and polished the entire ground floor as well, as well as the first floor and some of the second. Laying back in the bed that was still somewhat uncomfortably large to him Harry smiled thinking of how Happy Dobby seemed to be with all the work. Or course on occasion the elf would grumble about how Kreacher had been neglecting his duties, but for the most part the elf was as exuberant as ever.

Looking over to the Desk that Dobby had brought up from what appeared to be an office on the ground floor he saw the books he had been reading the night before. As soon as Harry had heard back from Professor Slughorn, who seemed almost intimidatingly happy informing Harry that he'd be welcomed into the Potions class Harry had wanted to run off to Diagon Alley to get his books for the coming year.

That in itself was an odd thing for him, Harry was definitely not what you'd call the most studious of individuals, but seeing as he had no homework over the summer as it had been his OWL year he was excited to get started on his NEWT courses. Unfortunately not everything worked out the way Harry had wanted. Apparently Winky had gotten a full view of his wardrobe and declared that 'Master Harry Potter Sir wouldn't be going out in them rags' That had been a long debate, but eventually Harry just gave in to the elf's orders and Dobby all to excitedly appirated away to pick up the books he knew he'd need.

After a long time debating what he'd take he decided to take all the courses required to become an Auror as well as Care of Magical Creatures, he didn't know what he'd do with Hagrid's class, but despite some of the most likely illegal creatures Hagrid had introduced them to over the years Harry felt like he could use the enjoyable time trying to wrangle in those monsters.

Harry pulled the covers off of himself and began to stretch, in Dobby's excitement to get his books the elf had gone a bit overboard and picked some extra books up, some were notably useful, such as a book he thought every student should have been assigned that explained the uses of different ingredients in potions, and why they had to be prepared certain ways.

Another of said books was a book on dueling, it was one of the first ones Harry had picked up and while skimming through it Harry found it mention that the better physical shape you were in the more easily you can control your magic. It gave a long explanation as to why, mainly revolving around how a wizard or witch's magical core was tied to their heart, so if you were in better physical condition your magical core would function more fluidly. Or at least that's what Harry got from the explanation. He was a little surprised that he'd never heard that before, but with little else to do he figured it couldn't hurt to start exercising a bit. It had taken until the previous day for Harry to convince Winky to let him go out to jog, but finally the elf had relented.

Harry made his way down to the basement to eat breakfast. As usual Winky had prepared far more than he assumed he'd be able to eat, but after much insisting he finished nearly everything. Taking a few minutes to settle his stomach Harry went back up to his new room and pulled out a pair of sweatpants from one of the drawers as well as a t-shirt that was obviously too large for him. Harry couldn't help but sigh looking at the things, they were all Dudley's hand-me-downs, and whilst Harry didn't feel like he needed to have the newest or fanciest clothes out there he couldn't help but start thinking about having Dobby get some money from his vault in muggle money so he could at least go out and pick up a couple pairs of pants that fit him.

Deciding to ask Dobby about it once he got back from his run he made his way out of the house. Harry couldn't help but chuckle to himself thinking of his situation, Voldemort was probably having his Death Eaters hunt for him and he was jogging through muggle London. It was actually somewhat ingenious in his own opinion, after all muggle London was probably the last place anyone would ever think to look for him. Glancing around Harry started looking out for any shops that he might be able to visit; he'd never actually been shopping in the muggle world, so he wasn't too sure where he could go to get clothes. He knew that he could always take the Underground to get to the Leaky Cauldron, but right now he was trying to stay low. Eventually giving up his search seeing as he was still in a primarily residential area he turned back and began jogging back to Grimmauld Place. He decided that he'd just ask Hermione if she knew any good places he could go to find some clothes in London, she probably would know.

As it turned out Hermione did know some places where he could go shopping as she told him later, unfortunately for him she also insisted that he go with her mother because as she put it 'men have horrible taste'. Harry had wanted to argue with her, but she had circumvented that possibility by just telling him when and where to meet her mother seeing as she had been planning to go into London anyways. That was the problem with communicating via Owl, It took around half a day to communicate with anyone, and afterword's he'd have to let Hedwig rest because he didn't want to exhaust her, so Harry just grudgingly accepted.

So it was at the end of his second week of self-imposed isolation that Harry, with the money which Dobby provided (Incidentally being a preposterous amount more than he assumed he'd need) that Harry boarded the Underground heading to the meet Hermione's mother.

It was rather simple to travel the city by underground, in the end Harry only needed to travel for around 10 minutes before he reached his intended destination. Making his way to the designated meeting place Harry relatively quickly spotted the woman whom he recognized as Hermione's mother from King's Cross, "Umm Hello Mrs. Granger it's nice to see you again."

The woman in question looked up from here paper to see him and smiled, "Ah, it's nice to see you too Harry, please just call me Elizabeth, Mrs. Granger is my mother-in-law."

Hearing this Harry cracked a small smile, "Well, I'm sorry for making you come around with me, I only asked Hermione to tell me some stores I could buy some clothes at…"

"Nonsense Harry, I'm sorry to say but young men your age don't always seem to have the best sense of style, besides I needed to come into London today anyways so I am happy to help."

The remainder of the day passed with remarkably little pain, of course Harry didn't quite understand why he was required to spend more than 2 hours in change rooms over the course of the day, but by around 5 in the evening Harry and Mrs. Granger finally parted ways after Harry had stopped at an optometrist to get his prescription checked.

It was somewhat shocking to Harry just how much clothing he had acquired. He was confident it was far more than he had owned before his shopping trip, and all of it was much nicer and for once actually fit him. By the time Harry returned to Grimmauld Place it was around 6 in the evening. Immediately upon entering Dobby appeared and took all of new purchases upstairs to his bedroom. He knew he'd need to buy at least a few new sets of robes, but for now he was satisfied with his shopping trip. Making his way down to the appetizing scent from the basement Harry was finally beginning to feel at home here in Grimmauld place.

* * *

><p>Bam, done. So what did you guys think of it. There were a couple time skips in this chapter, I'm hoping to cover the summer break by the fifth chapter. I'm also still trying to determine what pairing I would like to go with. I'm debating pairing Harry with Luna, I know a lot of people like HarryHermione and I have read a few stories where I really liked it, but I'm not convinced that that is where I want to take this story, I have decided though that it will most certainly not be Harry/Ginny.

Also I'm trying to keep Ron and Harry as friends, I am not a huge fan of all the Ron/Dumbledore bashing that happens, I mean yeah Dumbledore made a lot of mistakes but then again he's only human. As for Ron, for all his faults in the end he did go Horcrux Hunting, and risked his life. He may have been a fickle friend but I'm going to keep him around, I might even have his character play a bigger role.

Anyways, let me know what you guys thought of the chapter and give me any suggestions you have, I won't promise to use them, but who know I might.

~FeJazz


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